The Breaking Door
by MollieJames
Summary: Sequel to Sinister Seven. We're back for another round of fun.
1. Chapter 1

**So I noticed that a lot of people were still reading the story and I was at the gym one day and I was trying to think of a story I would work on in my mind and suddenly this story jumped back into my head and I just thought more and more about it and surprise this is what happens when you get so bored you can think of anything else. I hope you enjoy what's up so far and remember it is just the first chapter!~Mollie**

It's been almost three years since the portal was sealed and the human world was returned to the humans. Morganville couldn't remember a time wasn't infected with vampires so it was still taking time to catch up with the rest of the world. The police had to hire more people to fill the empty spots and the members who ran the blood bank were losing jobs fast. Luckily Eve had somehow managed to end up with the dead to Common Grounds, where I worked as a waitress when I wasn't busy with classes. I was set to graduate in only a few weeks, but until then I could only work part time. Shane and Michael also worked at Common Grounds. Shane made the drinks, as did Michael, when he wasn't producing the live music.

"Class dismissed." The clamor of desks were endless as we were released twenty minutes early. I walked out into the humid Texas air and plugged my headphones into my ipod as I started my walk to work. I smiled at the families I passed as I walked. It had taken quite a while for everyone to get used to be allowed out without having to bare their bracelets obviously. In fact no one wore their bracelets any longer. Richard Morrell had taken over as the Mayor of our city and he made it quite clear that we were to destroy the bracelets as soon as possible. Luckily I didn't have to. The minute Amelie disappeared so did my bracelet.

"You shouldn't be walking alone in Morganville." An arm wrapped around my waist pulling me close.

"Aren't you already supposed to be at work Shane?" I said turning to face him. He kissed me fiercely and pulled me off the ground.

"I was just heading there, and I knew you'd be coming this way so I figured it would be worth being late."

"Oh yeah because Eve is going to be so happy with that." I sighed as he put me back on the ground. Shane just laughed at me, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street. Slowly we made our way to work. I say slowly because every few steps Shane would pull me to a stop and kiss me so fiercely I forgot what we were trying to do.

"You're late." Eve said as she handed me my little half-apron. Shane had gone straight to the back, avoiding Eve's wrath, for the moment.

"I know." The Shop wasn't to busy, but the overpowering scent of coffee jolted me right awake. I was totally ready for the evening rush.

"How was school?" Eve asked forgiving me in an instant.

"It was fine _mom_." I said smiling. Even though I wasn't much younger than her she still thought it was her responsibility to watch out for me. She hadn't always been like that, but she soon took after her boyfriend Michael. He treated me like a little sister, but he tried to stay out of whatever Shane and I were busy doing, thank goodness, because that's an awkward conversation to have with your parents, but to have that same conversation with your boyfriends best friend and your best friends boyfriend brings it to a whole new level.

"Were expecting the usual lively crew." She cleaned the espresso machine quickly.

"Oh right, when's Michael going on?"

"Not till 7 but you know how everyone likes to get here early." Right at that moment the doors pushed open and the crowds began pouring in. Eve and I managed on our own for about 5 minutes before we were swamped and Shane came to our rescue. Eve couldn't yell at him in front of the customers, and by the time the customers were done ordering Eve would be to tired to make a scene.

"Nicely played." I said as I brushed past him to start a new pot of fresh decaf.

"I thought so." He handed some zoned out teen his coffee before taking the next order. The rush lasted for about an hour, but the minute Michael appeared on the stage everyone settled down. Even Eve went to grab a chair while Shane and I were on clean up duty. As Michaels set ended the people started to trickle out.

The lights had dimmed and the main glow came from the streetlights outside.

"Hey Claire, hey Shane." Michael said coming over for his water.

"Nice set today." Shane said bumping fist.

"Thanks. What level did you get to today?" Michael asked knowing very well what Shane had been doing all day.

"You'll have to wait and see." Shane smiles wickedly and then glanced towards the door. We were closing in ten minutes and in walks a couple.

"Really drunks already." Shane sighed and moved to get out from behind the counter to kick them out.

"Hold on. You tend to scare the people, and I don't think you getting into a drunk fight is the best idea." I said maneuvering around him.

"You always get all the fun."

"I thought we both—"

"Don't say it Claire, just go." Michael said cutting me off. I smiled and weaved my way over to the couple who had chosen the darkest corner to sit in. The girl had a dark jacket and the hood pulled over her head. It was tight fitting and she was really slender and I could see some pale blonde hair sticking out at the edge of the hood but that was the only real defining point I could find.

The man also wore a jacket even thought it was still humid this late at night. He wore a hat and black hair stuck out like he had hair that stood on its end and was shoved down under the cap.

"Hi, I'm sorry but we're actually closing in a—"

"No yelling." The girl moaned. Her voice was hoarse like someone had shoved a handful of gravel down it.

"Can we just get to black coffees? Regular." The man said taking the girls hand.

"Okay. Just a minute." I turned back around and weaved my way back.

"Two blacks to go." I said to Shane. He nodded and grabbed the two cups. I turned back to the couple and watched them while Shane brewed the coffee. The girl was shaking her head. The boy must have been talking to her.

The girl shook her head one last time and then looked down at the table. She reached her right hand up and massaged her temple. As he arm moved in a calming motion the sleeve of her jacket slipped down to reveal a simple silver brace let wrapped around her wrist.

A founders bracelet.

"Michael, look." I said hitting his arm. He choked on his water but turned to look. "I thought we were to get rid of anything to remind us of the old Morganville."

"We were." He started over and I grabbed the cups quickly and followed Michael towards the couple. The man looked up at our approach but I still couldn't see his face.

"I don't mean to be rude, but there are two problems here. We don't really like drunk people to disturb the peace and the bracelet. We had those destroyed a year ago. We weren't supposed to keep anything that reminds us of…them."

"Two things. We're not drunk, second it's not a founder bracelet Michael. It's a protection bracelet. It's to keep us safe." The man said grabbing the two cups rudely from my hand. The girl grabbed hers gratefully and chugged half of it before he finished answering.

"You seem out of it, like you might be a bit—"

"How did you know his name?" I asked interrupting Michael.

"Everyone knows him" The man turned his head an I knew he was looking at me like I was and idiot.

"Okay well if you know us we have a right to know who you are."

"Claire, enough." The girl said her voice sounding more normal. " We'll be on our way." She seemed more relaxed by the moment and then she stood up and grabbed the boy's hand. He slid out of his seat and stood behind her. "Careful Claire, just because we've been gone a year doesn't mean we've changed that much." I blinked in surprise.

But by the time I'd reopened my eyes they were gone.

"Claire was that?" Michael said his voice soft.

"Yeah, that was Nikki."


	2. Chapter 2

**As pointed out by EmeralEyes1994 at the end I say its only been 1 year it is supposed to be three years. I'd been switching back an forth while writing the chapter and decided that three fit better, but I didn't finish correcting that. My apologies I hope you all enjoy.**

"So you're telling me that the girl who closed the door on vampires, werewolves and all the other creepy crawlers of the night is back on this side of the door." Eve said driving us home from the shocking day work had turned into.

"Looks like it. Seems like Grant might be with her. I don't know who else would be so protective." Michael said.

"Should we tell them?" Eve asked. We hadn't spoken to the other sins since they left our house the night the door closed. For all we knew they'd left Morganville. All they'd left us was an email address to send them word if something went wrong.

"No, not yet. We should at least figure out what they want first. Maybe we can get it to them without a problem and then no one has to know." Michael said as Eve killed the engine. We climbed out of the car and Shane took my hand. We walked up the steps and I fiddled with the keys on my key ring.

"I just wish we knew what they were here for." I said pushing the door open. Shane pushed past me and flipped on the lights. Eve followed us in and went into the living room to throw her purse down. I heard the thump of the purse and ten Eve's girly scream.

We all rushed in and saw what Eve screamed at. Sitting in Michael's chair was an older looking Grant. His face was thinner and under his eyes were dark purple circles. Laying on the couch was the small body of Nikki.

Her hood had fallen back to show her beautiful chocolate hair had faded grey, but on her it looked white, much like Amelie's had.

She had her hand over her eyes, but I could see how pale she'd become. Not only was the color missing on her skin, but she had little if any meat on her bones.

"You could always ask us what we want. No speculations needed." Grant said opening his eyes slowly. "Sorry about surprising you. But you weren't home yet and we just needed a place to rest."

"What happened to you guys?" I couldn't help myself but ask.

A hollow laughed came from Nikki's throat. "Three years and we're already killing ourselves." Her voice was just an echo of how I remembered it.

"Once the door closed we had to keep it safe. We went about a normal life, but making sure to go back everyday and make sure it stayed locked. Two months ago we noticed a crack. We made sure to check everyday, but we noticed it growing larger. We thought someone must have been trying to break out and we tried to manage the members of our world, it took a week to check everyone. But when we hadn't discovered anyone using anything to break the door we went again. That was when we finally noticed that it wasn't cracking out, but in." Grant said yawning.

"Which means…" Shane said.

"Means someone from this world is trying to get into ours." Nikki said sitting up. She looked so frail.

"How? You said that all magic people would be taken back into your world." Michael said holding Eve close.

"Only if this was enough to be truly a threat. Several witches had children that didn't have active powers but if they knew how to read a spell book they could easily perform a spell to break the door." Saying that one sentence seemed to wipe the energy out of her.

"What happened to you Nikki, you're so different." I said ignoring Shane's arm around my waist and went over to her.

"She used herself as the key to open the door. It takes a magical sacrifice to open it. Usually someone would have to die to release all heir magic, but Nikki had enough to open the door and keep herself alive. Just barely though." Grant said. He was answering most of the questions because clearly Nikki didn't have the strength.

"So what you want to find who's opening the door and stop them?" Shane asked from the wall.

"Of course we want to find them." Grant said angered.

"And how are you going to stop them. I don't think a threat will—" Eve started but Grant cut her off.

"Who said we wanted to stop them. We want them to pry that door wide open."

**Sorry for the short chapter but it's been a busy week. Hopefully I'll have more up by the end of this never-ending week. Please review even if you didn't like it.~ Mollie**


	3. Chapter 3

"You want to what?" Shane sounded pissed and I didn't blame him. I was terrified. I couldn't believe that they wanted to open the door again. We just got back into the real life, without those creatures and they wanted to bring them back.

"We need the door to open. We don't have the power, or the strength at the moment. If we allow them to open it we can go back and take them with us." Nikki said smiling. She looked a little better, but not any stronger.

"But if you don't have the power how are you going to reclose the door?" Eve noticed the same hitch I'd seen.

"We're not." Grant said.

"Okay, when I first met you I thought you were the good guys, then the bad guys and then you turned good again so lets see which side you're on now." I retreated back so Shane could pull me close.

"We are on our side. We don't care if it's good or bad. We do what's best for us and our kind. So say what you want, we don't care. So are you going to help us?" Grant said closing the distance between us.

"What's in it for us?" Michael asked bravely.

"You get to stay alive." Nikki laid back again covering her eyes like it was too bright.

"Oh and that's such a great reason." Shane said.

Suddenly Shane's are was absent from around my waist. I turned and saw him glued against the wall.

"It is, because in the past three years we have become so brutal. We've killed so—"

"Grant, you need to calm down. Control the sin."

"You're not wrath anymore?" Eve asked trying to distract them.

"We both are. We are each all of the sins. It was the only way to make sure someone embodied all the sins. We each took half of the power of each. But poor Grant is having a little problem adjusting." Nikki laughed.

"You don't seem to worried." Michael sounded nervous.

"Why should I be? It's not like he had the power to do any real damage. We told you. Coming through the door wiped us out. It might have almost killed me, but he had to use a fair amount of magic to keep it open long enough."

"Can't you tell him to let Shane go!" I yelled looking back and forth. Shane was starting to turn a bit blue in the face.

"Are you going to help us?" She asked no concern coloring her voice.

"Yes! Fine whatever you need!" I said still paralyzed.

"Grant, come here." Nikki pushed herself up as Grant kneeled down in front of her. She leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn't a make out session, but it wasn't just a peck. They truly loved each other and that was clear.

There was a loud thud as Shane hit the floor. I ran over and grabbed his face. The faint pink tint was returning to his cheeks, but his eyes remained closed. He remained unconscious as I rested his head against the wall softly.

"Okay, we played into your hand. So now what?" Michael asked. But it didn't seem like either of them were listen. They were still in their lip lock. Nikki broke away and rested her head forehead against Grant's and said something inaudible.

"As for what you can do it's simple. Go about your normal life. For now. We can't do anything more until the door opens more. Which could be days, months, or years. We really don't know how many people or how powerful these witches are." Nikki said patting Grant's head like a dog.

"So we'll need a place to stay." Grant sounded so relaxed and vulnerable.

"Are you asking to stay here?" Eve asked steel in her voice.

"Not asking, telling. How else do you propose we get a place to stay? We can't stay at a hotel I mean we don't have money, or even a license. We are technically dead on this half of the world."

"Okay you can stay in my room." I said. It was the farthest from any of ours so they wouldn't be able to do anything stupid like listening to us, and we wouldn't have to listen to them.

"Perfect. We'll see you guys in the morning." Nikki pulled Grant up and lead him up the stairs. I waited till i heard the door shut before I ran over to Eve and Michael.

"What do we do?" I asked quietly.

"Help them." Michael sighed.

"We don't have a choice really. They could rip our world apart if we go against them." Eve said.

"And in retrospect having them stay here isn't the worst they could ask us to do." Michael said wisely.

"Okay." I gave in. I wasn't ecstatic to have my sister back but I guess it could have been worse.

"We'll talk more about it tomorrow. I think we're all just a bit to frazzled." Michael and Eve left to head up to his room. I made sure all the doors were locked before I sat down next to Shane. He'd slumped over and I put his head in my lap. I was perfectly content to fall asleep there, but the minute I started brushing his hair he started to stir.

"What happened?" He was so out of it.

"Nothing really, just a new deal was made. Come on. Lets go up to your room and get some sleep. I'm sure we'll be talking about it for the next few days. Come one." I helped him up and we made our way up the stairs. I changed into a pair of flannel shorts and a used tank top. Shane changed into a pair of sweats and jumped onto the bed. He looked tons better and I was ready to put that to the test.

I stood by the door and waited till Shane looked at my with that grin that set my heart on fire.

"You coming to bed?" His voice was husky and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.

"I'll get into the, but I don't know about sleeping." I said slowing stepping towards him.

"Oh good I don't know if I could sleep either." By now I'd reached the edge of his bed and I rested my knees against the edge. We looked at each other for a minute before he grabbed me around my waist and pulled me onto the bed.

And for the rest of that night I completely forgot about Nikki and Grant. I forgot about every worry all I thought about was Shane. And I never wanted to get up.

**Thank you to all of you who have read this far and I hope this was a nice way to end your week or start your weekend or just take a break depending on when you read this. Please review this chapter, or the story in general. I love hearing what you guys have to say.~vMollie James**


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up with Shane's arm wrapped around my waist. I tried to wiggle out but he pulled me even closer and I squealed in surprise. I heard him laugh under his breath and I knew my attempt to get up without waking him had failed.

"Morning." He slurred.

"Hey," I said breathless by just looking at him. It still amazed me that I was with Shane. That he had chosen little old me was a shock.

His eyes finally opened and he smiled before kissing me. It was light and airy but still made my stomach flutter.

The sound of shattering glass seemed to fill the house and we were both of the bed in a second. I threw on some sleeper shorts and a tank top and ran out the door after Shane who'd only bothered with sweats.

We passed Michael's door just as he pulled it open with Eve right behind him. We stared at each other for a minute before the four of us raced down the stairs and came to a halt. The front windows all seemed to be in one piece and the door hadn't been broken down.

Carefully Michael headed to the kitchen. We followed him but he stayed in front, not allowing anyone past him.

The door squeaked slightly when Michael pushed it and I stood on my tippy-toes trying to see past both Shane and Michael. From what I could see, which wasn't much, Grant was sitting at the kitchen table and a smashed pitcher of some liquid lay on the floor at Nikki's feet. The pink liquid was pooling around her bare feet, but she didn't seem to notice.

Neither of them moved as we entered the room. They continued their massive stare contest until Michael went over and started picking up the glass. Suddenly Nikki seemed to come to her senses.

"Sorry about that Michael. Don't worry I'll pick it up." She bent down and scooped up all the glass in a single fist and went to throw it in the trash can. She promptly went to the sink to wash off the juice and I noticed the pink tint was stained with a much darker red. She looked at the blood for a moment and then turned smiling sinisterly at Michael. She held her hand out like he was a dog she was trying to keep clam.

"Want some?" She taunted.

"No, I'm fine." Michael said calmly.

"Suit yourself." She sighed and grabbed a paper towel and wiped her hands like she hadn't just offered Michael a chance to suck her blood.

"Nikki." Grant said looking down.

"I know." She said coming over to the cluster of Eve, Shane, and I still blocking the door. She seemed much better. Color had returned to her cheeks and she didn't seem weak at all. In fact if it weren't for her pale hair I would have said she seemed perfectly normal.

"Is your hair going to stay like that forever?" I blurted.

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't think it's that bad. Do you?" She stopped a few feet away from Shane placing herself between Michael and us.

"I think it looks nice on you. It makes you look…um…more mature." She raised a single eyebrow but then huffed a laugh. She stood there watching me and I couldn't seem to break the eye contact.

Until the doorbell. It broke my concentration and I turned to see if I could see past the frosted glass, but all I saw was a dark shape.

"You'd better answer that." Nikki said from behind me. I turned to the hall and looked through the peephole first.

Standing on the other side was a very well dressed Jo-Ann stood beyond the door looking awkward. I pulled the door open and Jo-Ann smiled.

"I hope this isn't a bad time." She said smiling weakly.

"No, come on in." I stood to the side so she could walk in. She didn't venture far, but she went far enough to see into the living room.

"Is anyone else home?"

"Yeah we're here Jo-Ann." Michael came forward with Eve right behind him. Shane joined me as we went into the living room.

"I just came by to tell you that I'm leaving. I got a job in San Diego and I'm going to take it. I need to get out of here. So many bad memories, you know." We'd all taken a seat, but she had remained standing.

"That's great everyone else got away, you should have the chance to. When do you leave?" I asked.

"I have a car waiting outside to take me to the airport. It really was a last minute choice to stop by here. I thought you deserved to know that none of us would be here any longer."

"Oh, well that's great. I hope you enjoy San Diego and forget the bad memories that happened here. I wish I could." I said. She nodded and turned back towards the door.

"Thank you for your help again. We never could have gotten away from all of this. We will be forever grateful." With that she left, slamming the door in the process.

"Well that was interesting. I can't believe they'd just leave you like that." Grant said clearly upset.

"You mean you can't believe they'd just leave us." Nikki said. Neither of them had appeared but we could hear them loud and clear.

Just like the first time I'd met the other Sins bodies were suddenly falling from the sky. They both landed gracefully and barely seemed jolted.

"Where are you coming from?" Eve asked startled.

"The rafters. Where else? They give us the perfect view without anyone seeing us. Not many people look up." Nikki said like it was obvious as she took a seat next to me. I squirmed away and Shane pulled me close but Nikki just laughed.

"You have no need to worry. Like I said we need your help. We're not going to risk that." Nikki said as Grant took a seat on the armrest next to her.

"Any clue as to what you need our help means?" Shane asked.

"Not yet." Grant answered. "But we'll let you know as soon as we figure something out. As for now Nikki and I are off to go shopping." He held his hand out and pulled her up from the chair.

"Don't worry about what us being here means. At least not yet. Just pretend that we're not even here and we won't bother you until we need you."

"Okay." I answered, but they were already out the door and down the street walking hand in hand. Nikki waved through the window and smiled widely.

"I feel like your sister would be really good at Poker." Shane said once we'd been quite for a while and all we could do was burst out laughing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Yes, it has been so long, I really need to work on this more, but writers block has really struck again and I'm trying and failing to work through it. Please be patient with me as I work with the WB and I'll try to type faster. Please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review at the end! Mollie**

It has been almost two months since Grant and Nikki and dropped back into our life. And to their credit they were pretty sneaky. We never say them around the house. The only trail that they were even there was the fresh pot of coffee that was still hot when I came down. The shower was also a hint that they were there, but that was impossible to sneak around with how old the house was the pipes seemed to rattle the whole house when the shower started. Every week there was a little envelope on the kitchen counter with Michael's name on it.

"This week's rent," Michael said as he slid the money into his back pocket.

"How much longer do you think they are going to stay?" Eve asked worshiping her bowl of coffee.

"Who knows. We asked them to keep us out of it and so far they have. Let's just be grateful for that." I said carefully.

"Hey I'm not looking that in the mouth, but I just want to know," Eve sat down with a large sigh.

We all nodded and enjoyed our morning. Shane had already left for work when I was still asleep meaning I had yet to see him today.

I was so lost in my own train of thought that when a sudden crash from the second floor mad me drop my coffee.

"What the hell?" Michael asked already heading for the stairs. Both Eve and I scrambled to catch up.

When we reached the landing we ran right into Michael. I peeked around his arm to see Grant slammed against the wall. The door of my old room hung off its hinges at an odd angle like a bulldozer had run into it head on.

"What the hell happened?" Michael said going over to look into the room but before he reached the door Nikki stumbled out.

"Grant." she grabbed the door for balance but pushed off to take even more unbalanced steps towards Grant. "Grant," she sounded disoriented, or drunk even.

She crumpled to the ground next to Grant and placed her shaking hands on either side of his face.

"Immoaky," Grant slurred his eyes opening slightly. "But next time I vote we do it in a different place. Maybe without walls."

"Yeah without walls," Nikki laughed and rested her head against his. It was such a cute moment I'd almost forgot that they weren't our best friends.

"Are you okay?" Grant asked

"I'm fine just a little shaken. Don't worry though it worked," Nikki said.

"What worked? Blowing up part of our house, cuz it worked?" Eve said looking into the black room.

"We'll tell you later," Nikki said as she helped Grant to his feet. Neither of them where to stable but together they went back into their room.

The whole room looked like someone had spray painted it black. Even the bed seemed destroyed but they didn't seem to mind as they curled up together. They seemed to have forgotten we were even here but suddenly Nikki turned her head and raised her left hand and snapping her fingers. The door reattached to its hinges before slamming shut and locking.

"I get this odd feeling that they're not going to let us ignore them anymore." Eve said heading back to the stairs.

"Probably not, so let's enjoy this silence while we can." Michael said following her. They'd both disappeared and I was just about to follow when I heard voices. I looked around before stepping carefully to the newly attached door.

"What are we going to do now?" Nikki asked.

"I don't know, Nik," Grant said sounding defeated. "Lets just think about it for a while. A day or two to really let it sink in. Let's not be rash."

"Rash? Grant if what we saw is true, we don't have a hope in hell in surviving. The door will break and we won't have the power to do anything," Nikki sounded truly afraid.

"Shh, just go to sleep now, we'll talk about it later. Just sleep," Grant's voice became quieter and quieter until there was nothing.

I backed away from the door, but I couldn't go down to be with Eve and Michael. I walked calmly to the bathroom and turned on the shower water to warm up. I began pacing the tiny room until the room started to fill with steam. I stripped down and showered quickly. I had just returned to the room I shared with Shane for the moment and pulled on clothes for my later shift at Common Grounds.

"Claire," Shane said. I ran over and unlocked the door. Shane stood there smelling of the morning coffee run. "Morning."

The kiss was sweet and more than anything just what I needed.

"You okay?" He asked leading me over to the bed.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you haven't talk to Eve or Michael," I stated.

"No, they were locked in a pretty intense make out session, I didn't want to interrupt." To show his point he started his own little session and it took almost five minutes for me to realize that I needed to actually _talk_ to Shane.

"Shane," I murmured and he knew to pull away. "Hate to be a mood breaker, but Grant and Nikki blew the door off my room earlier."

"They what?" Shane focused in an instant.

"They were doing some spell and then there was really loud noise and suddenly the door was no longer there."

"Are you guys okay?"

"Everyone's fine, but once they had returned to their room I heard them talking. I don't know what was happening but whatever they saw, or did, really scared them."

"What do they want?"

"They said they would talk to us later. And when I was eavesdropping Grant said to let whatever happen sink in for a day or two," I said resting on his shoulder.

"Well then let's let them think about it. We shouldn't try to speculate because we'll end up making it worse than it really is." Shane said reasonably.

"Okay what have you done with my boyfriend? That is way to calm for you," I said pushing away and looking him in the eye.

"Claire, I just want to spend time in the moment with you. The future matters, but with something like this you have to take these things one day at a time."

"Nope, still just a little to much."

"Hey, I can be smart sometimes," He said pulling my close and tickling my sides.

"I give, I give!"

"Good, now, come on, let's go kill some zombies and interrupt the make out.," He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of our room and down the stairs. Luckily Michael and Eve had taken a break and were watching TV. In other words Shane had no problem challenging Michael to a zombie showdown.

I had learned that when Shane started to make sense it was a sign of the apocalypse, but I wasn't ready to deal with that idea, not yet. Not when the day seemed so perfect with my makeshift family cheering at the TV.

The apocalypse would just have to wait till tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

I was up for early for a morning class. I had some time so I made a fresh pot of coffee and was looking over the notes from the class before when Nikki stepped into the kitchen carefully. She froze when she saw me but shook it off and continued towards the coffee. She poured herself a glass and came to sit down across from me.

I ignored her and continued to read my notes but I could feel her stare and after a minute I looked up.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Did you destroy Myrinn's lab?" She said throwing me for a loop. I hadn't even thought about Myrinn, let alone the lab.

"No, it's still there I guess. Why?" Part of me really didn't want to hear the answer but I'd rather be forewarned of the plan.

"We're taking a field trip then."

"I have class in like twenty minutes. Unless this is a really fast field trip it will have to wait until after."

"No, now." She stood up and left without waiting for an argument. I didn't hear the stairs squeak and I knew she was waiting by the door. I sighed and shoved my notes back into my backpack. Maybe I could still make it to class.

I pushed the door of the kitchen open and judging by the scowl on their faces I was judging no classes today. I put my backpack down and grabbed my purse instead. I hadn't missed a single class since the vampire left and suddenly here I skipping out already.

"Morning Claire, are you ready to go?" Grant asked still not looking all that rested. In fact his hair was still covered in ashes and his skin looked a little black.

"Define ready? Because honestly I'm ready for class, not so much a field trip."

"Yeah sorry about that, but we really need to get started on the plan. If we wait much longer the door might crack, and if it opens we'll never get everyone back in."

"Come on Claire, let's go, we don't want to wake up the rest of the house." Nikki said opening the door. Sitting by the curb was a shiny silver Porsche. "Wanna drive?" She smiled and held out the key ring.

"I'd like to, but not with that expensive of a car. Where did you even get that?" I asked rejecting the keys.

"Magic can really do wonders." Grant said sliding into the front seat. Nikki jumped in the drivers chair leaving me alone in the back. As I shut the door I glanced back up at the house and for a second I could have sworn the curtain in Eve's room moved but then it was still and I shook my head. Even if Eve had seen me there wasn't much she could do. Besides I doubted Nikki and Grant would hurt me. Much.

I sat back and watched as the town passed in a blur. Clearly Nikki wasn't worried about speeding, or crashing for that matter. In about five minutes that car skidded to a stop in front of the Day household.

No on was out on the porch and the house seemed pretty dark when I looked as I got out of the car. They were either all still asleep or out of town.

"Claire stop dawdling." Nikki called from the alley. I hadn't been down here since Myrinn had left. Since all the vampires had left. The alley seemed oddly bright, like it knew there was nothing creeping around in the dark anymore.

Grant pushed open the hidden door and descended the stairs. Nikki nudged me forward and I followed her down. I went in and she pulled the door shut behind us. I could hear her heels click on the stairs but the dark was impenetrable.

"Electric's out." Grant's voice echoed around the hall and caused me to stumble. Nikki grabbed my arm and I'm sure I was going to have a bruise tomorrow.

"Find a candle and light it. Claire doesn't have the same eye sight as us." She held me steady and didn't let me take another step until a single flicker of a light appeared. I could just vaguely make out the staircase, but it was enough to slowly make my way down with Nikki's hand still tightly wrapped around my arm.

"Here you go," Grant said handing me the candle. The room was still pretty dark but at least now I could make out the lab table and the all-familiar place that hadn't changed in the past three years.

"So why are we here?" I asked setting the candle down so I didn't spill the wax. I watched as Nikki already started picking up random glassware.

"Do you remember when we told you the story about how we were created with our magic. Different drugs, well those drugs didn't have any magic they were all scientifically made," she said pulling a book off the shelf.

"We plan on recreating the drug is what she's trying to say." Grant said looking at me.

"Why do you need me?" I asked meekly under his scrutiny.

"Well you're smart. I mean we know the basics and we might be able to pull this off, but we don't know what half of these scribbles mean." He pulled a decrepit piece of paper and unfolded it on the table. I looked at it closely and recognized the symbols Myrinn had made me memorize.

"I haven't looked at this in three years. I don't know how much help I'll be." I tired to give them a reason to let me leave. But would they listen…no.

"I'm sure you an do something. Why don't you try to decipher those symbols while Grant and I start working." Nikki suggested pouring some blue liquid into a test tube.

"I thought you didn't know the process." I asked as she started dropping a red dye into the separate test tube.

"The serum takes three different solutions. I know how to make one, Grant can make the second and you'll learn how to make the third as soon as you decipher that."

"And if I don't?" I didn't mean to come out as a threat but they both took it that way and Nikki had jumped over the table and held me to the ground in an instant.

"Do you remember the vampires? The terror they held this town in? Do you remember the lockdown that everyone had to do every night so that the vampires wouldn't come in and make a snack of you and your friends? Do you remember when Michael was one of those creatures? Do you remember how that almost destroyed the Glass household, ripped it apart from the inside out! Do you really want that to happen again?"

I was shaking under her but she didn't seem to notice. I recognized the wrath in her and I knew that she still channeled the deadly sin. I heard Grant sigh and then there was a shuffle of paper.

"Enough, Nikki." His voice held the command but she hesitated for a moment still holding me to the ground. Finally she sat back and stood up returning to her test tubes. "Sorry. Wrath is still her weakness. Sometimes she just can't really control what's happening."

"I don't care about excuses anymore. But are you sure this will work?" I got up carefully may body still shaking.

"No, we're not sure, but that's why we're trying everything we can. Here just sit in that car over there. Take this notebook and decipher what you can." He tossed me the notebook with the paper tucked in the front cover. I stood up and grabbed the candle as I went over the chair and practically collapsed. I watched them for a while. They were so comfortable with each other. They seemed at home in a lab. They maneuvered around the table stealing chaste kisses that promised more.

Finally I forced myself to look down and start translating the symbols. I'd been at it for what felt like hours when Grant came over and tapped my shoulder. I looked up and had to blink a few times to get my eyes to focus in the dim light from the small candle that was almost out of wax.

"How's it coming?"

"Okay I guess. I've managed to get most of the symbols, but the equation I've come up with makes no sense so I still have to work on it." I said starting to look back down but Grant reached out and plucked my notes from my lap.

"Enough for today. We have to let the solutions rest for a few hours, or overnight, so we're going to just come back tomorrow."

"I can't. I mean I have class. I can't skip out everyday."

"Fine." Nikki said appearing next to Grant.

"Fine?" Grant asked turning to look at her.

"Yeah, take this with you and go to class. Work on it in your spare time and we'll all come back after your classes tomorrow. We know you get out by one and that shouldn't be to long. It won't compromise the solutions." She took the notebook from Grant and handed it back to me.

"You want to drive home?" She asked as we ascended the stairs. She acted like she hadn't practically strangled me a little while ago, but when we stepped out of the lab I noticed it wasn't a little while ago. Dusk had fully fallen and the street lamps were shining brightly. "Drive?" Nikki asked again.

"No, no. I'm fine." I said going back to the car. Not only had I missed class but I missed work and the whole day had just slipped through my fingers.

"Don't worry, you can blame us for missing whatever you were doing today. I'm sure the right people won't care." Grant commented as Nikki flew from the curb.

Luckily it was darker which meant it was harder to see the blurs passing to fast. I couldn't believe Nikki could remain in control of the car whipping around at this speed but we came to a graceful stop, only inches from the curb at the Glass house.

"Thanks for your help today Claire." Nikki smiled as I got out of the car. They both climbed out after me but as I started up the walkway I didn't hear their footsteps and when I glanced back they were both leaning against the car. Grant was smiling but Nikki had a scowl firmly set.

When I looked back to the house Shane was there pulling the door open. His expression showed his worry and I ran up the stairs and threw myself into his embrace.

"Hey," he breathed into my ear. I relaxed into his embrace and he held me closer. "Where were you today. Michael said you left with Nikki and Grant but they didn't hurt you right?"

"No, at least nothing that will last. She just startled me. But we went to Myrinn's lab to work with some, um chemicals. Let's head inside. It's chilly." He pulled me in and shut the door not even looking back at the car.

He led me into the living room where Michael sat in his chair playing his guitar lightly. Eve sat on the ground leaning against his leg her eyes closed. Shane sat down on the couch and set me down next to him.

"You okay?" Michael asked as his song dripped to a finish.

"I'm fine. I just hope you saved me some dinner because I'm starving!" They all laughed and we went into the kitchen I was the last one to trail in and as I shut the door I saw Nikki and Grant slip in quietly through the front door. Grant started up the stairs, but Nikki saw me peeing through the door and bowed her head once before following Grant.

It was times like that when I almost forgot how crazy and ungrateful Nikki could be.

"Claire, come on." I shut the door and went to my friends were we laughed the night away in hope that tomorrow wouldn't come and I could stay carefree forever. But the morning came and I knew that today was different. I knew that today would be the day the arrival of Grant and Nikki would really cause a problem.


	7. Chapter 7

Shane and I had finally gone up to bed at about three. We'd had a movie night and none of us wanted the night to end, especially me because part of me knew what would happen the next day.

Shane was sleeping with his arms tightly wrapped around me. I was dozing back off when a light knock sounded. I groaned but managed to weasel out of Shane's arm to slid the lock back and pulled the door open as quietly as a house this old could be.

"Good morning," Nikki said, her face lacking emotion.

"There's nothing good about it if you wake me up at seven in the morning when I'm sure you know we all stayed up late last night." I tried to whisper as quietly as I could but my anger got a better hold of me and I checked over my shoulder to make sure Shane was still asleep before I stepped out the door and shut it behind me.

"Claire, I told you we need to get this done, we can't let the crack open anymore." She said matching my volume.

"You promised I could go to class today. So I'm not going with you today." I wanted to put my foot down this time. I wasn't going to let them bully me into it.

"We got you excused and I'm sure you can make up the difference. They understood that it was urgent. Grant can be very persuasive. So get dressed we're leaving in ten minutes." She turned to walk down the hall but I grabbed her shoulder and she turned to face me still no emotion to be read.

"No I don't care if you me out of school and my professors are all okay, it's the principal of the matter. Going to school just part of the experience." I yelled not even caring if I woke anyone else up.

"Claire, I understand your concern, but I want you to understand that if you don't help there won't be a school to attend to but I'm afraid that this take precedence." She pulled her arm away, but when she turned Michael stood blocking her path with Eve jus behind him. "Michael, sorry for waking you but Claire and I must go."

"Sorry, but we're not going to let Claire go by herself."

Nikki sighed in exasperation and turned back to look at me. I saw her eyes flicker over my shoulder and I knew Shane had come out to join the party. When her eyes refocused I could see the same anger she held yesterday as she attacked me.

I took a step back and ran into Shane and he wrapped his arms around me. I felt a little better, until she took a step towards me. Shane tensed but just as I was about to say something Grant came up the stairs.

"Nikki, come on now. No need for this." Her red eyes swiveled towards Grant and I could see her head tilt like she was considering something. "Nikki, come on, snap out of it now." Nikki straightened and then nodded. She glanced back at me, her eyes back to normal before going back down the stairs.

"I thought you were the one having the trouble with managing the wrath sin, not her." Michael said seeming to relax once Nikki's steps had stopped echoing on the stairs.

"I am, but she's been trying to keep me under control, and by doing that she takes on so much more wrath it's really just not good for her. She can't seem to control herself. But at least she'll listen." Grant said as he effectively moved himself into the same spot Nikki had been. "Now back to business. Claire, I'm afraid that you must come with me. Last night we visited the door and noticed that it's ready to break. It will happen any day now."

"But you wanted the door to crack." Eve said speaking up.

"Well yeah, but we're not ready yet. We don't have anything prepared and they would overwhelm us and then we'd never get them back." Grant spoke quickly like he was ready get out of here.

"Well we're still at an impasse because I'm not going with you." I said again.

"Claire, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, and besides if you willingly come with us your friends can come too. So what do you say?" I couldn't look him, not really instead I focused on Eve and Michael behind him. Eve looked like she rather be anywhere but here, Michael on the other hand was watching me. I knew he was waiting for me to answer but I really had no clue what to say.

"Come on Claire, nothing's going to happen to you please help us."

"You promise you won't hurt any of us?"

"We never were going to," he sounded sincere but honestly after everything I've been through I didn't trust them. "Come on now, everything will be okay."

"Fine the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can all return to a normal life."

"Excellent. Go get dressed, I'll be waiting for you downstairs." He left us alone and we all returned to our rooms to throw some clothes one. Shane and I didn't talk while we got dress and I minute I was finished I opened the door. Michael and Eve were dressed and waiting in the hall for us. We looked at each other for a moment before we headed down the stairs. Grant stood by the front door spinning a quarter around his knuckles but stuffed it into his pocket as we approached. I looked in the living room for Nikki, but she was nowhere to be found.

"I sent her on ahead. I thought it would be best to give her some time to cool down," Grant said knowing just what I was looking for. "She left the car so let's go." Grant opened the front door and we filed out. He went to the driver's door this time as Shane, Eve and I maneuvered ourselves into the non-existence backseat while Michael took shotgun.

Grant was a careful driver and made me feel a lot safer to be in the car than when Nikki was driving. He flipped on the radio to make the drive go by faster and when we pulled in front of the day house this time Grandma Day sat on her rocking chair.

"Morning Ms. Day," I called getting out of the car. She waved and smiled down to us.

"Well Claire it has been a long time. Hope nothing crawling out of the dark for you anymore."

"No ma'am, not right now," I smiled and we went about our way down the alleyway. I pulled the wood panels away and held it open as Michael, Eve, and Shane went first. Grant held the panel and waited for me to go first. I peeked my head in but I couldn't see any beyond the stairs it was still dark.

"I thought you said Nikki was here already," I said pulling my head back out.

"Oh she is, she just likes the dark better. Here I brought a flashlight this time." Grant said pulling a flashlight from his jacket pocket. I flipped it on and stepped in. Everyone waited carefully at the top layer and I led the way down with the flashlight. The minute we stepped onto the ground floor the flashlight began to flicker and dim.

I hit it a few times trying to rejuice the batteries but finally it flickered off.

"Grant, you didn't bring any batteries did you?" I asked the room, but I got no reply. "Grant," this time a little louder.

"Don't worry little Claire everything will be fine," I heard Nikki coo from behind me. I turned around just in time to feel something nice a cold slip into my neck. "Everything will be fine." Nikki said again right before I blacked out.

**I'm sorry about the wait yet again. My hard drive on my computer crashed and I wasn't in the mood to type after it all got erased. But now that summer has come I think I can get more chapters done. Please, please, please review, it is much appreciated. **


	8. Chapter 8

The darkness didn't seem to end and I matter how many times my brain told my feet to stop walking they continued to step into the inky blackness. I couldn't seem to stop. I felt so tired but I also felt like I had to just keep walking. It felt like it had been hours before my tired feet finally slowed and then stopped. I had just stopped moving when I collapsed to the ground.

My head was spinning and I felt like throwing up. I rested my head in my hands and waited for my body to feel normal again. When I finally looked up all I could see was the darkness but as I looked out into the darkness there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. The light seemed to grow and suddenly Sam was standing there in front of me.

"Welcome back Claire," he held his and out and helped me up.

"Am I dying again?" I asked knowing full well where I was.

"Sadly yes, but this time you aren't alone," Sam smile and snapped his fingers. The darkness shifted to the white I remembered from the last time I'd been here but he was right. This time Eve, Michael and Shane all stood in the room as well.

"Sam?" Eve said looking towards us. "I thought you were dead!" She yelled and ran over to hug him.

"I am," he said setting her down. Shane had come over and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"What do you mean you're dead? You can't be, you're standing right in front of me," Eve said confused.

"Eve. I'm sorry, but all of you are in Limbo, waiting for judgment."

"What sort of judgment?" Michael asked.

"Whether we get to live or not," I supplied.

"What?" Shane said quietly.

"Nikki and Grant did something to us. Something that killed, or that might kill us. This is where people in comas go. We're waiting for judgment from an invisible force," I continued sitting down on a couch that had just appeared.

"Don't worry Claire, I don't think you'll have to wait long," Sam said, and almost at the signal the bell rang. The same table appeared but this time it held four sheets of paper. "Like I said, you won't have to wait long." He went over and glanced at all four sheets.

"Have fun in the human world, try not to die again," he waved us away and he started to fade into blackness but at the last second his face contorted. "What are you doing here?" He said but my eyes closed before I could see or hear anything else.

Much like last time I felt like I had the hangover of the century, well what I assumed a hangover would feel like. Every noise was magnified by 100, even my own uneven breathing sounded like a plane taking off.

"Claire's coming to first," Nikki said from a distance.

"What do you think she'll be?" Grant asked. My muscles started to twitch as the medicine started to leak out of my system.

"I don't know, I think she'll be Pride," Nikki said closer this time.

"But I'm Pride,"

"You were sweetie, but once we absorbed everything and split it again between us there is a possibility that neither of us will be the same," this time her voice was right next to me. I felt a hand close on my arm and I was being lifted up. Luckily my feet had come back to their senses and I could stand easily.

"Wake up, Claire," Nikki whispered in my ear. This time her voice was like a wake-up call and my eyes snapped open. She was less than a foot away and her smile was ecstatic. "You survived."

"There was a chance I wouldn't?"

"There was a chance that none of you would, but don't worry they are all going to pull through. We took very good care of all of you."

"How long…were we out?" My throat was dry and I swayed for a second before her grip tightened.

"Seven days. Enough time for the sins to grow," Grant said mixing some chemicals.

"Sins?"

"Come on Claire, you had to have figured it out by now. We don't have the power to close the door. It took all seven sins to open and close the door last time. It will take the same amount this time," Nikki helped me over to a chair before heading over to Eve who was starting to move.

In time it took Shane and Michael to wake up and be moved to the couch I was fully awake and I didn't like it. I had so many things I wanted to ask, but I couldn't my body felt like it was humming and I wanted to know what was happening but I didn't want to give them the upper hand of knowing that I didn't know.

"You were right Nikki she's Pride. You can practically see her bursting with questions she wants to ask," Grant said coming over and looking me in the eye.

"So I'd rather not test them all. Just flare." Nikki said. Grant nodded and grabbed the flashlight that had died on me. He turned it on and shined it into Grant's eyes.

"Sloth, look at that dull gray. Lazy bum."

"Hey, who are you calling lazy," Shane yelled but made no mood to get up.

Next he shined the light at Michael and this time I could clearly see the black hole that took over his irises.

"Gluttony, the black hole for food."

"Makes sense," Nikki said looking at Grant. "I mean he was a vampire wanting only blood. So glutton suits him."

"Now what about you little miss?" Grant shone his light at Eve. I looked over to see her eyes flash a dangerous hard emerald green.

"Envy?" Grant said slightly confused.

"Or greed. Those two look a lot a like." Nikki said leaning back.

"Stay the hell away from my boyfriend!" Eve yelled and knocked the flashlight from Grant's hand.

"Envy it is," Grant said sitting on the arm of Nikki's chair

"Which means that you are Greed," Nikki said patting his knee.

"How do you know I'm not wrath?" He countered.

Before I could see she grabbed the flashlight from his hand and held it shining right in her eyes making it very clear that that molten lava red was the color of the true Wrath.

"Couldn't he be Lust?" Shane asked lazily.

"No," they said in unison.

"But there is only six of us. Who's going to act as the seventh sin?" I asked my Pride finally taking the wound of asking.

"Oh we already have the perfect person for Lust. She woke up two days ago. In fact she should be here at any moment," Nikki practically purred. My body seemed to warm up and I was getting turned on which I shouldn't be considering the fact that Shane was two people away from me.

"Is she doing this?" Michael asked.

"She can't control her power, just like you can't, which is why she isn't allowed out during the day. We can't have people stopping to make-out and do other indecent things in the middle of the street." Grant smiled and looked up the stairs as an outside light source lit them up briefly.

"So who is this perfect person?" Eve said holding tightly to Michael.

"That would be me."

My body turned involuntarily because I knew that voice but my eyes needed to confirm it and the second I turned I regretted it. Because standing in the little Halo of light stood the perfectly dress Monica Morrell.

**So I know I haven't updated in forever and that's becoming a really bad habit, but my hard drive crashed with everything I had on it and I just lost heart to write for a long time, but I just found it again so hopefully I'll crank out a few more chapters soon. Now for all my fellow readers I'm hoping you can do me a favor. Besides reviewing this I would be grateful if you could take this survey for me because it's for my summer course and I would be eternally grateful if I could have your input. Here is the link: **

**.com/s/5RL6S6H**

**Hope everything is well and thanks for reading~~~Mollie**


	9. Chapter 9

"Monica," Nikki sighed. "Enough."

"She's right, rein it in. Now," Grant finished.

"Sorry," Monica said looking down, actually abashed.

"You five will need to learn to use you power. I'm not saying you have to be friends but our powers were created to work together and you need to work on that. Do not butt heads with each other. Now have fun and try out your knew powers." Nikki said standing up and stretching.

"Wait how does Monica already have her sin?" I forced myself to ask.

"We wanted to test it on someone and Lust is the easiest sin to recognize. All you have to do is find someone who always wants attention, especially attention of the other sex."

"Recognize the sin?"

"Well you have to understand we can't do this by random. That's why we stayed with you four. We wanted to see you commit the sins because that's the only way to be infect someone is if they've repeatedly committed the sin." Nikki sighed and pulled Grant to his feet.

"Wait where are you going?"

"Out, but your five will stay here and make sure to work on your powers. We'll be back in a few hours," Nikki said.

"Work on making others feel your sin. Use each other as guinea pigs. Have fun!" Grant said as they both went upstairs.

Monica stood awkwardly and for once looked out of place. I watched her and right before my eyes her perfectness seemed to disappear. I could clearly see every imperfection and vulnerability. Monica turned to look at me and her eyes hardened and suddenly the imperfections where gone and the perfect Monica stood there again.

"Well are we going to do something?" She sneered.

"Well I guess we can work on our powers," I suggested wanting to see what we could do.

"They aren't all that great I mean we can just make people commit the sin," Monica sighed and flopped onto the couch.

"But didn't you notice that the others, the more experienced sins, they always seemed to come together. They always stayed together," I noted.

"Like they were more powerful together then apart." Michael finished.

"Monica how many people could you infect at once?" I asked. I looked over at Eve and Shane to see if they had caught on, but Eve looked even more confused than before and was tightly gripping Michael's arm. Shane on the other hand had managed to dose off.

"I don't know maybe like four or five, but that was just inklings. I can infect one person almost to the point of love….kind of."

"So imagine if all of us were together we could infect a whole city."

"I don't recommend that," Grant said coming down the stairs.

"I thought you said you'd be gone a few hours," Eve said harshly.

"Well Nikki decided it would be better if one of us was here to watch you and make sure you don't infect a city."

"And why shouldn't we?" Monica sneered.

"As you probably know we weren't the original sins. Sure we were the first that had been humanly infected, but the powers that be have chosen the sins for thousands of years. The proof that you need is in Las Vegas. The city of sins. Back when it was first being built the sin crown had just been turned over and they thought it would be fun to unleash their whole power. One little problem. You unleash everything we cannot rein it back in like usual. The sin grows on it's own and takes on its own life."

"So Las Vegas was a mistake?"

"I don't know for sure that's just the story that has been handed down from generation to generation. A little warning."

"Fine, then what are we supposed to do?" Shane grumbled sleepily.

"Just relax. Have fun with your power like this," Grant his eyes glowed green and he smiled widely. "Come on let's go see what you can do."

We followed him out of the hole in the ground to the sun streaming brightly and my arms went up defensively to cover my eyes.

"Now you know how the vampires felt. Come on this way." I grabbed Shane's hand as we stumbled after Grant. He led us to the park in the center of town. The last time I had been here it was vampire central and I couldn't help but glance around and make sure Shane wasn't still locked in the cage waiting to burn.

"Show me what you can do." I glanced at Grant noticed him watching me. I knew what he was thinking. I was pride I should want to be the first one to master my power. I should want to be the best.

Okay, maybe I did, but I was trying my best to stamp that out of myself.

_Don't fight it._ My mind said, but for some reason it sounded just like Nikki and I shook my head trying to clear my mind. My eyes were squeezed shut but I could still see the gold that seemed to shine through them.

I gasped and my eyes flew open. Everything had a bright gold tint to it and my eyes focused on a pair of older gentlemen sitting at one of the tables playing a game of chess. Both men seemed to straighten up and started talking gesturing at the table. It was to far away to hear what they were seeing but soon they were standing their hand gestures becoming wider.

"Nik, you're carrying it too far." Grant said quietly. I wanted to turn to see if she was there, but I couldn't take my eyes off the men.

"What's happening?" Monica asked from my left.

"Our little Claire is using her power. Making those men too prideful to play the game. They each thought the other one cheated. Pride is a dark sin. The darkest in my opinion," Grant said and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew Shane's warmth and I knew that I could finally look away and when I glanced back at him I looked briefly into Eve's eyes and I saw the envy burning through them, but by the time I looked back it was gone and she was smiling at me.

_She's letting Envy take control._ Nikki's voice whispered in my ear again. I brought my hands up to my temples trying to rub her voice out but I could still feel the presence through the silence.

"Tell her to leave me alone." I pleaded my head starting to swim.

"She's had enough," Grant said nodding. I looked up and suddenly Nikki was there smiling.

"What was the point of that?" I asked my tone beginning to reflect Nikki's.

"Teaching. Showing you how to control your sin. You let it over take you and by doing that everyone around you felt it. Humans and sins alike. You saw the envy in Eve's eyes, not because she was envious of you, but because you sin was calling out to hers. Begging it to awaken." Nikki explained.

"Why teach us, aren't you just going to rip the power from us in the end?" Michael asked his eyes still a little darker than usual.

Grant smiled, "of course, but like we said when we first came here, we need the door to open first. We still aren't sure when it will crack, but we figure we should get you ready. After all, you could be living with these power for years."


End file.
